I am looking back at 2012 from my vantage point of August, 2019 as I am creating content for my website. 2012 was the year that I made the transition to the final phase of my life, retirement, which will hopefully be a very long and pleasant chapter. A major retirement project is to write my memoir.
It is easy to capture the major events of 2012. To supplement my memory I reviewed my emails, a rich source of details. Also, in the spring of 2012 Pat and I each bought iPad3 tablet computers and in July we began using the calendar application.
One story, which began in 2011 and continued well beyond 2012, hangs as a dark shadow over my life. I will tell that story separately in detail and call it My Great Mexican Misadventure. The final paragraphs cannot be written yet because it continues to unfold.
The other matter that impacted everything in 2012 was preparing for our move to Mexico in October.
There were certain things to do in Alberta that we had never done and 2012 was our last chance. So in January we went to the Ice Magic Festival in Lake Louise. It was impressive and it was very cold.
In January I bought a new vehicle, a Nissan Xterra. We were planning a road trip from Calgary to Ajijic, Mexico and I wanted a reliable new SUV. I also wanted a vehicle suitable for the rough streets there. That decision would cause me significant problems which I will write about at a later date. It will definitely impact my life in 2020.
I will also write separately about our house in Calgary which, unexpectedly, did not sell as planned.
In April Pat and I travelled to Ajijic for two weeks. The main purpose of the trip was to secure rental accommodations for our arrival in October. We stayed at Casa Flores Bed & Breakfast where we had also stayed in 2011. We looked at several available rental properties including one managed by Fernando Gomez, owner of Casa Flores. He managed the house for his mother who owned it but never used it. It was located in La Christina, about 3 kilometers west of Ajijic. We arranged for a lease from October 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013.
In May I went to Nova Scotia by myself as Pat was still working. I attended the wedding of a niece, Rebecca Stokdijk. Of course I had visits with various family members. In an email to Pat I mention taking video with my new camera which I plan to upload sometime. For the first time I travelled with my iPad, a new experience which I thought was really good.
There was a Mexican Consulate office in Calgary which was very helpful. We would not be entering Mexico on a tourist visa and we needed to understand the process for obtaining residency status. We need a medical certificate, a criminal record check and proof of financial resources. We also needed to prepare for shipping some personal belongings to Mexico. And we prepared as instructed by the Consulate staff for a full load of personal goods packed into our vehicle. Our careful planning did not help us one bit when we arrived at the Mexican border in October.
Early in 2012 I reviewed a draft of what would become a book entitled What The Hell?! written by my good friend Henk Wilms. This too is a story which continues to unfold. I hope to add to this story in 2020.
In July I went to Edmonton for a CMA Gala and personal recognition for 35 years as a CMA (Certified Management Accountant).
In 2012 I worked with my nephew René Greener as part of his business venture Pinnacle Search. I will write about that as a small part of the story of my career. I had hoped to continue working for Pinnacle Search part-time in Mexico but it did not work out that way.
Pat retired at the end of June from Collins Barrow after more than thirty years of service. Her employment stability was a great contrast to my career. But my turbulent career has left me with many colorful stories to tell.
In August we did one more thing we had never done. We drove to Edmonton and attended several performances at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. I remember regretting that we had not done this more often.
Our departure from Calgary had been planned for September 1st but was delayed due to our house not selling. But on a beautiful, sunny morning on Saturday, September 22 we were on our way. We arrived in Ajijic on October 11th. Pat wrote a daily synopsis each day on her iPad which makes the story of Our 5000 Kilometer Road trip an easy story to tell in detail.
During the trip I got sick and after arriving in Ajijic I did not get better. We began looking for a doctor and on November 8th I had my first appointment with Dr. Leon. There is much more to write about this and I will call the article My Very Strange Illness.
Within a couple of weeks, at Pat’s insistence, we began Spanish classes which were available a short walk from where we lived.
My trusty iPad calendar tells me we had Christmas dinner at La Nueva Posada.